


Because I love you

by SheMalfoy13



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Kya's hurt, Lin's hurt, My first attempt at Kyalin, Post Zaheer, Terribly fluffy fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 14:11:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14380299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheMalfoy13/pseuds/SheMalfoy13
Summary: It's been over a year since the last time Lin saw Kya, and with Zaheer defeated by Korra, the whole team returns to Republic City to recover. While on the airship Kya faints and is not waking up, and Lin has so much to be sorry about.





	Because I love you

**Author's Note:**

> Only two notes for this. 
> 
> I truly hope whoever reads it, enjoys it and finds the love of this marvelous women inspiring.
> 
> A giant thank you for my amazing Beta, canttaketheskyfromme, for bearing with all my craziness.

There wasn’t a time that Lin could remember when she hadn’t been told she needed to rest, calm down, take care of her wounds, relax. But at the same time, there wasn’t a time when she hadn’t been needed. A time when her friends and extended family or even her city hadn’t needed her. And she couldn’t very easily turn her back on someone who needed her. That was not who she was.

“Lin, please, get some sleep” Suyin begged once more, stubbornly seated by the side of Kya’s bed in the airship on their way back to Republic City. “There’s nothing else to do right now; you need to rest and heal, too.”

And Lin knew it was true. Almost everyone on the airship needed sleep and a visit to the hospital. They had just finished securing Zaheer in a cell to transport him for his definite incarceration and were making their way back home. Korra of course was who needed the most attention, the damage of the poison had left her exhausted and quite delirious, so Kya had been using her healing powers to get the girl to sleep and, given the woman’s own injuries, had ended up passing out only moments after the Avatar. Lin had been quick to catch her and carry her to a cabin and hadn’t left her side for a second. She was feeling guilty and that wasn’t uncommon, but after what had happened between them and seeing her so weak, she knew she should’ve behaved differently. 

“Leave, Suyin, go with Opal, she most likely needs you right now.” Lin pleaded, her voice not much above a whisper but filled with sadness. She noticed the incremental widening of Suyin’s eyes. Her sister had probably never seen her like that but Lin couldn’t care for appearances anymore. Not after all that had happened.

Everything in Lin’s private life had been chaos, since her bending had been taken away and then restored. When she left Kya at the Southern Water Tribe she never thought about the repercussions of her actions. All she could think of was of restoring the metalbending to her force, help the officers recover, help the city go back to normal. And she had left Kya without further thought. After all, Lin had always understood Kya. How wrong she had been. After the support Kya had given her those couple of days when she had been so lost without her bending, after the things they had said, the loving night they spent together. And Lin had turned her back on Kya without much more than a kiss. And the kiss had even been given behind closed doors, like Lin was ashamed of her, ashamed of their relationship, or whatever was between them.

“Let me bring you some tea at least, you’ll feel better.” Suyin’s voice roused Lin from her thoughts.

The moment Suyin left the cabin, the little composure Lin had been able to maintain was lost. Hands supporting her on the side of the bed, a sob wracked her body and tears flowed freely down her cheeks. Why had she been so stupid?

Lin began to softly trace the patterns on Kya’s armband with her fingers.

Once her officers’ bending had been restored and the force was up and running again, Lin had sent Kya a letter. And when no answer came, she had sent another. And another. With each letter her heart grew heavier, like lead was being poured into it with each passing week without news from the south. Now that Lin thought about it, with Kya being the free spirited person that she was, it was only natural that she would be able to move on more easily than Lin ever could. Lin was certain the letters she sent were most likely left unopened, and she was certain she deserved it. She was sure Kya had moved on, started dating someone else, someone more worthy of the woman’s love; someone who deserved her. Lin had tried to hear from her through Tenzin or even Korra but whenever Kya’s name was mentioned it was without any details, and Lin would certainly not ask either of them for more. She knew Kya had been at Air Temple Island helping Pema with Rohan, but Lin could not bring herself to visit with the air acolytes and family around. 

A part of her hoped Kya would stop by her apartment like she always did, after all she had a key, and it was supposed to be their home somehow. But she never did. And Lin’s hard heart began to break piece after piece with the pain. She spent night after night berating herself for her stupidity, for taking a wonderful woman like Kya for granted, a woman that had showed her so much unearned love and caring. How many times had Lin been dumped unceremoniously, her feelings disregarded, her pride wounded? One would think she might’ve learned something from that. And instead she did the same to the only person that had always meant anything to her. The only person that had always loved her.

Lin didn’t notice her sister returning to her side until she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Lin was so startled by it she didn’t even think to wipe her tear-streaked face.

“Oh Lin, she’s going to be alright, you’ll see.” Suyin said, placing a warm cup in her hands. “Drink, you’ll feel better.” 

Lin drank the tea all at once, throat burning, but she couldn’t care less. At least that pain dulled her heartache for a moment.

“Thank you Suyin. Just, please, leave now.” Lin returned the stoic mask to her face as she placed the cup on a side table and adjusted her plate, eyes going back to Kya’s face. Suyin remained at the door for a few seconds, probably deciding whether to say something else or not and finally, with a soft sigh, she left the room.

Lin didn’t know just when she fell asleep or how long she had been out, but when she woke up again she was actually feeling well rested, the soreness of her body long gone. She was at her apartment, she could tell before opening her eyes, and someone had changed her out of her uniform. Lin sat up on her bed and assessed her injuries. There was some light bruising on her ribs and left leg, her head hurt a little, but nothing else. She heard noise coming from the kitchen and put a foot on the floor to sense who it was. Her heart leapt on her chest. Kya was here. Lin set down the other foot and stood, making her way to the bedroom door, but she halted before opening it. She worried her hands, fingernails digging to her palms… how would she face Kya after everything? If she was here and Lin was healed, she was certain it had been Kya’s work. After Lin had left her like she was just a passing fling, there Kya was, at their apartment, taking care of her.

She steeled herself, took a couple of steadying breaths and made her way to the kitchen.

The moment Lin had heard The Red Lotus had Kya with the airbenders as prisoners, Lin had done everything in her power to remain calm and focused on the task at hand. Saving them all. But she had felt her resolve fail several times. The first time when they discovered the prisoners weren’t at the air temple. The second, when she blasted a rock against a Red Lotus member only to find Kya passed out on the lap of an Air Acolyte. Her skin was pale and her breathing strained; Lin had heard Kya had fought to very last minute defending her father’s nation. And Lin was trembling with fear. Fear of Kya not waking up, but also the fear of what would happen if Kya did wake and they had to face each other after over a year. And so Lin chose to aid Tenzin in that moment, not trusting herself to come in contact with Kya’s skin. The fight wasn’t over; she couldn’t afford any distractions. The third time Lin lost it was at the airship, seeing Kya pass out from exhaustion whilst helping the Avatar. And that was all her spirit could take for the day. Or longer.

“Kya?” Lin had reached the kitchen with a pounding heart and her skin prickling with anticipation. The waterbender turned around, her expression one of worry rather than the furious or disinterested one Lin had been expecting after everything she had put the woman through.

“Lin, you are up, how are you feeling?” Concern was palpable in Kya’s voice while she took the metalbender in a hug.

“I’m fine. Thank you, it was you that healed me, after all.” Lin’s voice was alien, full with doubt, fear, heartache. She tried to read Kya’s body language, her pulse, but she could not decipher her actions… Kya needn’t be concerned for Lin, she didn’t deserve it.

“Is there something wrong?” asked Kya.

“Why aren’t you mad, Kya?” Lin asked, slowly, softly.

Kya took Lin’s hands in hers and the metalbender couldn’t help to shudder at the missed contact. Her skin was much warmer than Lin’s, how she missed that. Kya led her to the couch and they took a seat facing each other. This is it, Lin thought, now is when she finally and formally leaves me. Of course Kya being the kind spirit she was, she was going to stay long enough to take care of Lin, had likely been asked by Suyin to do so. Now that Lin was functioning normally, the waterbender could go back to her life. And she wouldn’t blame Kya, of course. How could she, after the resentment she carried for years against Tenzin? Lin looked at Kya like it was the first time ever, because it was probably going to be the last. She tried to memorize every last detail about her eyes, her lips, the colour of her skin, how lovely her hair looked when she carried it loose. Lin tried to memorize the feeling of their hands intertwined, save it for later when she was alone at her apartment thinking of all the things she could’ve done to make Kya stay. Somewhere along the way, tears had begun to fall silently but she only realized when Kya removed one with a kiss.

“It’s okay Lin, I forgive you.” She said. “We will have to talk, of course, but I forgive you, stop worrying please.”

And just like that Lin was a little kid running to her oldest friend for comfort after a bad day at training or a fight with someone about her tomboyish behaviour. She held onto Kya’s waist, head on her chest, tears running freely now and body shaking with the released tension. The waterbender caressed Lin’s hair like she used to when they were younger, murmuring something soft; that everything was going to be alright. 

“Why, Kya?” Lin asked around the sobs, trying hard to keep her voice steady.

“Because I love you Lin, I always have.”


End file.
